Use breaks to break the mind’s spell on you

Our mind is like a spell-casting magician. When a magician spell-binds a person, the victim simply does whatever the magician orders: “Stand, jump; walk on your hands.”

The Bhagavad-gita (06.05) cautions that the mind can work as our enemy. When acting inimically, it casts a spell on us by triggering chains of irrelevant thoughts. If we get caught by the mind’s spell, we give up important things, and start doing unimportant, irresponsible things.

To prevent or counter the mind’s spell, we need to distance ourselves from it. We can’t distance ourselves physically from the mind because it is inside us. But we can distance ourselves cognitively. That is, we can remind ourselves that the mind’s feelings are not necessarily our feelings. We can create the cognitive distance most effectively by taking planned spiritualized breaks and engage in devotional practices such as mantra meditation or scriptural study.

When we engage committedly in devotional practices, we place roadblocks in the mind’s spell-casting. Such engagement stops our consciousness from going wherever the mind is directing it and directs it elsewhere. When we face the inner battle between what we want to be conscious of and where our consciousness tends to go, we recognize that something inimical is at work inside us – that is the mind. This recognition provides us the cognitive distance necessary to begin countering the mind’s spell.

Devotional breaks offer something much more than spell protection – they act also as spell-reversers because they connect us with Krishna, the all-powerful, all-attractive, all-loving Absolute Truth. He can not only free us from the mind’s spell, but also cast a spell on it so that gradually it becomes attracted to him. When our mind becomes thus enchanted by our greatest benefactor, our inner distractions decline and disappear, and our life-journey becomes meaningful, joyful and fruitful.

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